Play Bennett 7 minutes a game. I know I know nothing compared to Bylsma, but it is frustrating when a young player plays well and sees his ice time go way down. If Bennett is only going to play 7 minutes, you might as well send him down. Just my opinion. I know Bylsma knows what he is doing, but it must be tough on the player. Adams played more than Bennett.....

Adams had more minutes because he had some PK time. Bennett actually had more even strength time. No PP opportunity for Bennett last night.

It's the reality of being a rookie on a first place team with a lot of depth and Cup dreams. It's not a slight on every rookie that they're not thrown into big minutes right away in these situations. I think it's plenty beneficial for Bennett to be on this team for both his sake and the team's. He, like Despres, will play a more prominent role later but they still have something to offer now even if it's in a minor role.

But I am not averse to the current situation either. Being in the NHL, around NHL players is also a good thing for his development.

It's a blessing in disguise that there is no clear cut way to get him tons of minutes at the NHL level. Having a winning record and being a good team will tend to cause some difficulty in getting lots of time for rookies.

Besides the wonderful thought out post from Pavel, thanks for the response. My point, and only my point, was this was an obvious game where scoring was tough, you are missing Malkin, and Bennett has shown some playmaking ability at the NHL level. So why were his minutes so low? That was it. Just a question.

A few weeks ago we were scoring at will and were still losing games. Now we can hardly score and can't lose. This is a great sign with the playoffs around the corner, you have to know how to win these ugly 1-0 or 2-1 wins. Bennett will not be a factor in the playoffs and neither should be be.

Bennett is solid, but he still gets the yips pretty frequently. I think building his comfort level is still a priority before things start getting real. Being on the 4th line for a few games isn't the worst way to do that.

MarioLives wrote:Besides the wonderful thought out post from Pavel, thanks for the response. My point, and only my point, was this was an obvious game where scoring was tough, you are missing Malkin, and Bennett has shown some playmaking ability at the NHL level. So why were his minutes so low? That was it. Just a question.

OK. He's a rookie. He doesn't play center. A better veteran player was just acquired in a trade and took his spot, he doesn't PK, the Pens had two PP chances, none of the PP chances were 5 on 3, Crosby was being double shifted to try and spark offense somewhere else in the line-up, and again he's a rookie playing protected mins.

MarioLives wrote:Besides the wonderful thought out post from Pavel, thanks for the response. My point, and only my point, was this was an obvious game where scoring was tough, you are missing Malkin, and Bennett has shown some playmaking ability at the NHL level. So why were his minutes so low? That was it. Just a question.

LMAO.

Hey MarioLives, I don't think this is just a Bennett thing. Despres is having his confidence getting screwed with as well. One minute he gets a top pairing shift, kills it, and the next he's on the bottom with Engelland.

I still go back to the comment Strait made. Literally BEING SCARED...to make a mistake, for your playing time will be reduced, or maybe even not able to play the next game. I still think its a complete Joke Mark Eaton is getting minutes over Despres.

It's just Bylsma. He's a fringe NHL grinder for his career. He loves those guys. He's buddy buddy with those guys. He doesn't want the rookie that can play well over the old time veterans.

MarioLives wrote:Besides the wonderful thought out post from Pavel, thanks for the response. My point, and only my point, was this was an obvious game where scoring was tough, you are missing Malkin, and Bennett has shown some playmaking ability at the NHL level. So why were his minutes so low? That was it. Just a question.

OK. He's a rookie. He doesn't play center. A better veteran player was just acquired in a trade and took his spot, he doesn't PK, the Pens had two PP chances, none of the PP chances were 5 on 3, Crosby was being double shifted to try and spark offense somewhere else in the line-up, and again he's a rookie playing protected mins.

He doesn't play PK...I'm sure a bunch of guys like Malkin, Vitale, Kunitz, etc could all play the P.K. but Bylsma has his love fest for keeping Craig Adams on the team. You know, a guy, just for PK, to have the 21st ranked PK....joke.

I do agree that Morrow will be a better fit for the 2nd line. Bennett should take Kennedy's spot on the 3rd line.

MarioLives wrote:Besides the wonderful thought out post from Pavel, thanks for the response. My point, and only my point, was this was an obvious game where scoring was tough, you are missing Malkin, and Bennett has shown some playmaking ability at the NHL level. So why were his minutes so low? That was it. Just a question.

OK. He's a rookie. He doesn't play center. A better veteran player was just acquired in a trade and took his spot, he doesn't PK, the Pens had two PP chances, none of the PP chances were 5 on 3, Crosby was being double shifted to try and spark offense somewhere else in the line-up, and again he's a rookie playing protected mins.

He doesn't play PK...I'm sure a bunch of guys like Malkin, Vitale, Kunitz, etc could all play the P.K. but Bylsma has his love fest for keeping Craig Adams on the team. You know, a guy, just for PK, to have the 21st ranked PK....joke.

I do agree that Morrow will be a better fit for the 2nd line. Bennett should take Kennedy's spot on the 3rd line.

Do me a favor go look at the PK numbers for the last 13 games. They started off the year terribly on the PK, just awful. During this win streak though it's been top 5 in the league no doubt.

MarioLives wrote:Besides the wonderful thought out post from Pavel, thanks for the response. My point, and only my point, was this was an obvious game where scoring was tough, you are missing Malkin, and Bennett has shown some playmaking ability at the NHL level. So why were his minutes so low? That was it. Just a question.

LMAO.

Hey MarioLives, I don't think this is just a Bennett thing. Despres is having his confidence getting screwed with as well. One minute he gets a top pairing shift, kills it, and the next he's on the bottom with Engelland.

I still go back to the comment Strait made. Literally BEING SCARED...to make a mistake, for your playing time will be reduced, or maybe even not able to play the next game. I still think its a complete Joke Mark Eaton is getting minutes over Despres.

It's just Bylsma. He's a fringe NHL grinder for his career. He loves those guys. He's buddy buddy with those guys. He doesn't want the rookie that can play well over the old time veterans.

MarioLives wrote:Besides the wonderful thought out post from Pavel, thanks for the response. My point, and only my point, was this was an obvious game where scoring was tough, you are missing Malkin, and Bennett has shown some playmaking ability at the NHL level. So why were his minutes so low? That was it. Just a question.

OK. He's a rookie. He doesn't play center. A better veteran player was just acquired in a trade and took his spot, he doesn't PK, the Pens had two PP chances, none of the PP chances were 5 on 3, Crosby was being double shifted to try and spark offense somewhere else in the line-up, and again he's a rookie playing protected mins.

He doesn't play PK...I'm sure a bunch of guys like Malkin, Vitale, Kunitz, etc could all play the P.K. but Bylsma has his love fest for keeping Craig Adams on the team. You know, a guy, just for PK, to have the 21st ranked PK....joke.

I do agree that Morrow will be a better fit for the 2nd line. Bennett should take Kennedy's spot on the 3rd line.

Do me a favor go look at the PK numbers for the last 13 games. They started off the year terribly on the PK, just awful. During this win streak though it's been top 5 in the league no doubt.

ah good to know. Team defense has been better all around as well. I'm just not liking how Vitale seems to be the odd man out right now. He's usually decent at faceoffs as well. I'd rather have him than Adams or Glass playing is my point.

Another guy Bylsma is possibly ruining. Play the 35 year old PKer!! instead of the young 26 year old hustle guy!!

MarioLives wrote:Besides the wonderful thought out post from Pavel, thanks for the response. My point, and only my point, was this was an obvious game where scoring was tough, you are missing Malkin, and Bennett has shown some playmaking ability at the NHL level. So why were his minutes so low? That was it. Just a question.

OK. He's a rookie. He doesn't play center. A better veteran player was just acquired in a trade and took his spot, he doesn't PK, the Pens had two PP chances, none of the PP chances were 5 on 3, Crosby was being double shifted to try and spark offense somewhere else in the line-up, and again he's a rookie playing protected mins.

He doesn't play PK...I'm sure a bunch of guys like Malkin, Vitale, Kunitz, etc could all play the P.K. but Bylsma has his love fest for keeping Craig Adams on the team. You know, a guy, just for PK, to have the 21st ranked PK....joke.

I do agree that Morrow will be a better fit for the 2nd line. Bennett should take Kennedy's spot on the 3rd line.

Do me a favor go look at the PK numbers for the last 13 games. They started off the year terribly on the PK, just awful. During this win streak though it's been top 5 in the league no doubt.

Never mind I did it for you. And... you're not as wrong as I thought you were.

Pens have killed 28 of 35 penalties during the streak which puts them squarely at 80% In the last 10 they're killing at 80.7%. Still much better than earlier in the year but not great.

I obviously didn't run the numbers for the other 29 teams over the last 13 games (I can't seem to find anywhere that will do that without me actually having to do the legwork like I did with the Pens numbers.) but I'd guess 80% is still middle of the pack or maybe top 1/3.

*no offsetting minors or fighting majors were factored into the numbers, I don't know how the NHL does it but I didn't include those.

Pens as a team are sitting at 15th now in PK at 80.3% so it is surely getting better.

On a bright note for Bennett. He seems to throw his body at somebody in the offensive zone at least once a game. Good to see, and hopefully he can add a few lb's this offseason.There was also a play in the 1st or 2nd where him and Crosby were going up the ice together, losing the puck, skating backwards and making a play out of it.I look forward to see what he can do in the future.